Bracing device for silos.



T. M. HAMILTON.

BRACING DEVICE FOR SILOS.

APPLlcAloN man sPT.19.1914.

1,152,174. Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

rou-Mum llLANonnm-u co.` WASHINGTON. n. cA

lvice collapsing. A further object of my invention is toY nica.

'rianononniaanion HAMILTON, cr ruiiiarii'x,l VIRGINIA. Y

risente.

To all whom t may concern.' j

Be it known that I, THEODORE M. I-IAMIL TON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a residentof Fairfax, inthe county of Fairfax and State ofVirginia, have made cer'- tain new and usefuly Improvements in BracingDevices for Silos, of which the following is a specification.

. lMy invention relates lto improvements in silos, and it consists inthe combinations,

constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed. f l j Thedevice is particularly designed Vfor ,use with wooden silos of the typein which a series of staves is held together by retaining bands on theoutside of the silo after the manner ofthe so-called barrelconstruction. j A

Silos constructed of wood are especially 'useful in certain parts of thecountry `owing to the fact that they arej easilyL set up,

inside thestructure is `in no danger of` collapsing, but as the silageis used up and is withdrawn from the interior sudden wind which exertsconsiderable pressure on one side may tend to cause the structure tocollapse, due to the fact that the staves are forced inwardly.

`An object of my invention is `to provide means whereby a silo of thetypedescribed j Vmay be braced internally so that even if it be nodanger of the de- I f later.

is empty there will provide means for bracing the interior of againbrought intense.

A further object of my invention istov4 provide a bracing device whichis com-` paratively cheap to manufacture but .which purpose for which`it1is` amply fulfils the designed. A

v Other objects and advantages will appear Y in thefzollowingspecification, and the novel Specification of Iietters VZPatenc. l

gether by the described.

This necessitates 'BnAcINe nnvicr. `son sILos. j' i Patented Aug. 31,1915,.

`Application filed September 19,1914?.L Serial Noil`862,56"5. i

f features of the invention will be particularlyypointedout in the`appended claims. p Myinvention is illustrated in the accompanyingv`drawings forming part of this applicationfin which,

Figure 1 shows a vertical sectionthrough the silo andthe bracing devicealong the line 1k1 o f-,FigQ 2, Fig. 2 is a `plan view of thebracingdevice, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail 'View partly in section of a4portion of the bracing device.

l In carrying out my'invention I make use of a circular brace membermade up pref- `Verably of a series of segments of piping, `such as gaspipe or water pipe. In Fig. 1 'I have shown five such segments at 1, 2,3, '4L and 5 respectively, although it is obviousl that a greater orless number may be used without departing from the spirit of theinvention. These segments when placed to- "getherV end to end aredesigned to just t within the interior f the silo, being held toholdingmeans about to be From an inspectionofFig. 3 it `will be seen that Iprovide at the end ofthe pipe j sections a T-shaped joining member 6hav- Iing reduced portions 6a arranged to enter the end of adjacent pipesections, .su,ch Las those shown at'2. The` joining member 6 is alsoprovided with a lateral extension 6b which is designed to enter the endof a hollow brace member 7,'being preferably secured in'position bymeans of va bolt 8. A

j .Central casting 9 is providedwith radially extending ears 10 betweenwhich the end 11a' ofV aA companion brace member 11 extends. Bolts 12are providedfor pivotallv securing the Acompanion'bracemember 11 to thecasting 9. A shoulder 11b is provided on leach of the extensions `l1aforlimiting the pivotal movement, as will be explained The brace members7 are connected with the brace members l1 by means of an"expansion'joi'nt 12 in such a manner that a silo, which is easilyadjustable, so that asl the silo is'iilled the bracing vdevice may beremoved and as the silage is used it mav be the members 7,11 and 12form4 in fact a continuous brace member extending laterally from thecentral'. casting 9 and connecting with the joining member 6. Be-

tween .the ends of two of the pipe sections hthe ring made bythe pipesections 1, 2, 3,

etc. From` the foregoing description of the va- .Iious parts of the`device the operation theref :of may be readily understood. llVe willasvof the casting 9, as shownin 1 sume that the. silage has beenk usedup toa point which necessitates the bracing of the upper part. Thevbracing device'may be introduced into the upper part of the silo l in.sections. `That is tosay the pipe'mem-V bers 1, 2, 3 and 4 maybeplacedvinside ofy the silo and the joining members 6`fittedt0` theirends: 'The ring thus formed isplacedV inthe silo in 1'such a mannerthatthe engages .thesi'des 14 of the silo,/as shown 1n Fig.r 1. Theturnbuckle 13 may now.V be

tightened soy as to expand the ring, thereby holding itfrictionalagainst the sides. The

radially extending brace members may now be secured to thejoining''members 6 by ymeans oftheboltjsS and the expansion members 12are so `turnedthat:the casting .9 takes a position which is slightlyabove the `plane of the ringorfpipe, as shown indotted lines in rFig. 1.Now by forcing .the `casting ldownwardlythe radiallyy extending bracemembers will tendl Yto be'thrust outwardly, thereby bracing .the ring orpipe. The shoulders 11b/'are designed to .engage the top so as to limitthe .downward movement ofthe `latter.` The casting is now veryslightlybelow the-plane of the ring or pipe, and this locks l:theV'casting in position, since any external pressure tends to force thecasting down while the t shoulder prevents any further downwardmovement.- 'If now, there should be undue pressure `from'the outside,'asthat caused by..wind pressure, or `from tightening the exterior bands ofthe silo,pthevlatter `will be keptfrcm collapse by the brace on theinside..` As the silage is used up, the positionl of the. bracing devicemay-be vshifted by forringthe casting9 forwardly 'to'its dotted lineposition, thereby Vwithdrawing .the radial.pressurefandloosening theturn- ;buckle. "Ihejbracing device may then be lowered .to a positionwhere theturnbuckle maybe again tightened up and the central`castingagain .forceddowin inthe manner heretofore vdescribed.` @Whenitis again desiredto lillnthe silo the turnbuckle-may'be loosened, thebrace membersunlocked and so.

the ring orpipe together with lthe brace members may bedrawn bodilyupward, as

for instance by a pulley, not shown, located Yatvthe top ofthe silo, Ifno'pulley is to be hadthe'bolts 8 may be removed and the ring fof'pipelifted bodily and 'secured ini'position by tighteningthe'turnbuckle, I contemplate, of course,vthe 'use ofy oneror more ofthese bracing devices for-each silo. The disi tance through whichthecentral casting 'mustV be Aforced in order to lock the. devi-ce wouldfdepend, of course, uponthe size ofthe silo and of the bracing device.In Vactual practicethe vertical distance-between the exlce `tremeYpositions of the central castin-gfinthe locked and unlocked kpositions,that is to say the vertical distance between the dotted and a vfull linepositions shown in Fig. 1, would be relatively small. In the drawings Ihave Yexaggerated this distance in order to clearly show the operationof the device. After the expansion joints 12 are once vset for theproper distance `itwill only be necessary to 'change them on rareoccasions.

The device thus described comprises a cheap and.. thoroughly eliicientmeans of bracing 'the interior' of` the silo. The parts are ofVcomparatively light-Weight butare say along radial lines.

I claim:

- 1. In a bracing device for silos, an expan- ,sfor arranged as to bracethe device along lines y, `in which thestrain 1s apt to occur, that 1sto 4 sion -ring arranged-'to engagethe interior walls'ofy the silo,radially extending brace members connected to said ring,eachoflsaidradially fextending bracemembers being independently expansible, `andacentral holding memberjpivotally secured to saidbrace.4

members for vsimultaneously locking the brace members in position. f

2. In a bracing device for silos, an expansion .r1ng...arranged toengage the interior walls of thesil'o, radially extending brace..`

.members-connected to said ring, each ,0f said 'radially .extendingbrace members being independently expansibld .and a centralvholdthecomprising a series of-pipes jointed together and adaptedtoengage the interior walls of the-sllo,a central holding member, a seriesof bracing memberspivotally connected to said holding member'. at oneend and being pivotally connected to said ring at the other end, andmeans carriedby each of said bracing members for increasing ordecreasing its effective length.'

4. In, a bracing device for silos, a ring comprising a series nof pipesjointed together and adapted to engage the interior walls of the silo, acentral holding member, a series Lof vbracing memberspivotally connectedt0 saidn holding member 'at one endand being'q pivotally connected to`said ring at the other end, means carried by each of said bracingmembers for increasing or decreasing its eifectlve length, said centralholding member being movable with respect to the ring,`

, whereby. the radially extending brace mem- .bers are thrust outwardly,and means for llocking the holding `member in its shifted position.

.l 5. Ina bracing 'device for silos, fa ring Acomprising a seriesfof-pipes jointed together and adapted to engage the interior Walls ofthe silo, a central holding member, a series of bracing memberspivotally connected to said holding member at one end and beingpivotally connected to said ring at the other end, means carried by eachof said bracing members for increasing or decreasing its eifectivelength, said central holding member being movable With respect to thering, whereby the radially extending brace mem- 10 bers are thrustoutwardly, and means for locking the holding member in its shiftedposition, said last-named means comprising shoulders on the bracemembers arranged to engage the holding member When the latter Witnesses:

F. D. RICHARDSON, Jos. W. BALLARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

